Tuesday, October 29, 2013

National Great Rivers Museum complex shares river story

National Great Rivers Museum celebrating 10 Years

Ten years ago this October, the National Great Rivers Museum in Alton, Ill., opened to tell the story of the Mississippi River—its history, its wildlife,
and the complexity of balancing the river’s many uses.

Particularly popular is the chance to view wildlife— the
hundreds to thousands of trumpeter swans, eagles and nesting white pelicans
that frequent the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in West Alton, Mo. The complex of 3,700
acres of marshes, bays, interpretive opportunities and viewing celebrates its
25thanniversary this year, while the
museum celebrates its 10th.

Over the years, people have flocked here, and so has
wildlife, bringing even more people. Tens of thousands (of both) visit each
year, with human visitation growing with new opportunities like the on-premises
Audubon Center at Riverlands. More than 80,000 people visited the museum alone
in 2012, and 4.1 million to the rivers project office grounds—48 percent of
those say “sightseeing” was the reason for their visit.

The partnership allows the Audubon staff to focus on bird
education and conservation, and the Corps staff to focus on connecting people
to the river, says Charlie Deutsch, supervisory wildlife biologist at the
Corps’ River Project office. The agency’s multiple missions are also on
display—never more clearly than from the tour that lets you walk atop the dam,
80 feet above the river, and see the distant miles of restored wetlands and
prairies. The Corps has even created wildlife habitat for endangered terns atop
repurposed barges.

Inside the museum, visitors get a close-up look at some of
the river’s more common and unusual fish, listen to bird calls and drive a
towboat through a simulated river experience.

Also on display, and covered in regular tours, is
information on how soil is made and erodes and how river models help scientists
make important decisions affecting the river. At one station, visitors can
estimate how much fresh water their household uses a day and at another
visitors can learn of ways the Corps seeks to help protect the region from acts
of nature like flooding.